Pesticide contamination in the aquatic environment: advancements in efficient and sustainable remediation approaches

The extensive use of pesticides in agriculture has resulted in their widespread occurrence in aquatic environments, raising concerns for ecosystem and human health. Their persistence, toxicity, mobility, and resistance to degradation vary substantially among compounds, with some exhibiting high persistence and bioaccumulation potential. These characteristics can promote environmental accumulation and prolonged exposure, driving research into their environmental fate and effective removal. Current remediation approaches include adsorption, membrane filtration, biological treatment, and advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), whose performance depends strongly on pesticide properties, treatment conditions, and water-matrix characteristics. This review critically summarizes and compares these approaches, with particular focus on hybrid systems integrating adsorption or membrane technologies with AOPs to enhance removal efficiency and sustainability. The fundamental mechanisms, effects of key operational parameters, and the development of green and multifunctional catalysts that simultaneously serve as adsorbents and activators in AOPs are comprehensively discussed. In addition, current challenges, research gaps, and future perspectives are highlighted to guide the development of efficient, scalable, and environmentally sustainable technologies for pesticide remediation in wastewater.